René François Nicolas Marie Bazin (26 December 1853 – 20 July 1932)[1] was a French novelist.

He contributed to Parisian journals a series of sketches of provincial life and descriptions of travel, and wrote Stephanette (1884), but he made his reputation with Une Tache d'Encre (A Spot of Ink) (1888), which received a prize from the Academy.

René Bazin was a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, and was President of the Corporation des Publicistes Chretiens.

He also wrote books of travel, including a À l'aventure (1891), Sicile (1892), Terre d'Espagne (1896), and Croquis de France et d'Orient (1901).

Bazin is known to English and American readers for rendering the Italy of his time, The Italians of To-Day (1904).